Pulling students from class to avoid certain lessons

Debate is intensifying over an Alberta bill that would require schools to alert parents in advance of lessons that deal explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation and allow them to remove their children from those classes.

We had a similar debate in B.C. a couple of years ago after Education Minister Shirley Bond moved in the opposite direction, ordering schools to get tough in applying B.C. laws that allow parents to remove their children from classes only under certain circumstances. (They can opt out of health lessons in three courses: Health and Career Education for K-7, Health and Career Education 8-9 and Planning 10.) She delivered that message as part of the Corren agreement, signed in 2006 to make the B.C. curriculum gay friendly. It prompted an outcry from thousands of families and the Catholic Civil Rights League, which said the directive violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I’ve heard nothing about the issue during this school year.

Meanwhile, a campaign against the Alberta legislation is growing. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has now joined with a letter urging the provincial government to reconsider, the Globe and Mail reports today.

The association’s Alan Borovoy says there’s a danger that Alberta’s move couuld “become a counterproductive precedent” for other provinces. “You should be able to exclude your kids from indoctrination but not from knowledge,” he is quoted as saying.